Deacon Ordination

DEACON ORDINATION Acts 6:1-7

FBCF – 1/12/25

Jon Daniels

INTRO – WELCOME ONLINE AUDIENCE

Peyton – Testimony

ACTS 6:1-7 – This passage of Scripture is generally considered the first instance in which a group of men was selected to help w/ the ministry functions of the church. As we come to the ordination of Peyton Barnes to the ministry of deacon, let’s take a moment to examine this passage to discover why there is a need for deacons within a church body. I hope this will be a great reminder to those men who are here today & are ordained deacons as to the huge privilege that they’ve been granted by the GRACE of God to serve the Lord as a deacon. I also hope this will be a challenge & encouragement to Peyton as he steps into this new role in our church FAMILY.

LOOK AT THE REASON – The Church in the first chapters of the book of Acts had a problem – a good problem – it was growing – v. 1a

- Acts 2:41 – 3000 people saved & added to the church after Peter preached on Day of Pentecost

- Acts 2:42 – Those 3000 “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching & the fellowship, to the breaking of bread & the prayers.”

- Acts 2:47 – “…And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

- Acts 4:4 – 5000 men were saved

- Kept on growing – Acts 5:14 – “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men & women.”

- By the time we get to Acts 6, the church had grown to 20-25,000 Christ-followers.

- The leadership & administration problems associated w/ such a large congregation had to be enormous.

- Meeting spiritual needs & dealing w/ sin were daunting tasks in themselves, let alone trying to deal w/ physical needs of members.

- Those original 12 apostles who had waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 had to have some help.

Another reason for additional organization w/in the church was due to the fact that the apostles had fulfilled the first part of the Lord’s charge to them in Acts 1:8.

- Had saturated Jerusalem w/ the Gospel message – High priest in Acts 5:28 – “…you have filled Jerusalem w/ your teaching…”

- Had begun reaching out to the surrounding region – Acts 5:16 – “The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem…”

- Now poised to begin evangelizing Samaria & the Gentile world

- In order to be able to do this – to be obedient to Jesus’ command! – there needed to be some additional planning & structuring w/in the congregation.

No surprise that in a church this size that someone’s needs were being overlooked – v. 1b

- Here was an issue that Satan could use w/ devastating force against the church. Consider this: By the time we get to Acts 4, Church was characterized by:

o Unity – “one heart & one soul” – v. 32

o Powerful teaching & testimonies – v. 33

o Money was being given to apostles for distribution & ministry – v. 34-35 – Much more organized for effective ministry.

- Satan hates all of those things – unity, Gospel proclamation & teaching, effective ministry. So, he 1st attacked through persecution. Only caused the church to grow faster – Acts 4:3-4 – “And they arrested them & put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, & the number of the men came to about five thousand.”

- Then he attacked by introducing sin into the body w/ the dishonest & deceitful actions of Ananias & Sapphira – Acts 5 – That backfired, too.

- 3rd tactic – attempt to create dissension w/in the body. Satan knows that:

o A church that is wracked by internal conflict will find its message lost in the conflict.

o Energy that could be used to advance the K’dom of God will be depleted having to deal w/ the conflict.

o A church focused on itself will not be able to focus effectively on a lost world.

LOOK AT THE RESPONSE – All came to understanding of what apostles’ priorities would be & what these men’s priorities would be.

- Apostles – prayer & teaching/preaching of the Word – v. 2, 4

- Not saying they’d never be involved in some of administrative work of church. But majority of time would be spent praying, studying, & sharing Word w/ the people “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to building up of the Body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12)

- Even the act of choosing these 7 men was a fulfillment of their God-given responsibility to equip others to do ministry in the Church.